TAMU Genetics vs UTD Neuro or other comparative major and best choice

College Search & Lists
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All,

Need a suggestion and inputs. Got admitted into A&M genetics & UTD Neuro.

  1. Understand both or different majors but which choice is better from aspect of future prospects and what is the cmparitive major at UTD that is equivalent to genetics or closer to genetics?

  2. Which university has better research in these areas?

  3. What are the chances of volunteering / showing at college station vs Dallas? College Station is remote area and not sure what kind of opportunities we find for shadowing in that small city.

appreciate any thoughts or inputs in this regard.

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Is there any idea about a possible career path? I am not sure what you mean by “future prospects” with regard to these majors. Grad school? Work? Medical school?

Has the student considered biology or biochemistry at UTD? There is overlap with genetics.

Which school does the student seem to like better- aside from major? Both schools seem to have research opportunities.

You mentioned shadowing. If the student is premed - note that many students shadow at home during breaks. This is also true if the plan is to shadow a different career. Students can also do informational interviews.

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Thanks for your response, by future prospects, I mean Med school.

No, she did not consider biochemistry. Is it harder than genetics or inline with genetics? Is there a way I can see the overlap of things or what are different compared to UTD bio vs A&M genetics?

Yes, meant premed shadowing. But how are the opportunities in College Station vs Dallas area?

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I am not familiar with the schools, but my D was a biology major and is in grad school now (genetics). Among the necessary prerequisites were biochemistry and organic chemistry.

I cannot tell you if biochemistry …or genetics …is “harder.” There is overlap and it also depends on the students interests, abilities, study habits, etc.

The student will have to take prerequisites for medical school, including organic chemistry. I would look at those. They can be any major and complete the prerequisites.

Does the student like one school over the other? Many premeds do shadowing at home during breaks, as I mentioned. I would look into volunteering opportunities at both schools.

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Why is the student so focused on genetics as a major? I ask because it’s a pretty niche major. A biochem major will have a small amount of genetics, a biology major will have a lot of genetics, and a neuroscience major will have a medium amount of genetics. This will vary a bit by school/program.

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When I read genetics I thought the student wanted a career in genetics. For premed you can be any major as long as you take the prerequisites for med school. I would think of a plan B in the event med school doesn’t happen- biostats has been suggested as a possible major or minor. There are jobs in genetics but most/many end up back in schools eventually.

As for choosing a school…if you take premed out of the picture does the student have a preference?

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Which university has better research in these areas?

For pre-meds, research is of lesser importance than other ECs. Some research is expected, but physician shadowing, clinical experience, non-medical community service w/ disadvantaged/disparaged groups and leadership are of greater importance to med school adcomms.

What are the chances of volunteering / showing at college station vs Dallas? College Station is remote area and not sure what kind of opportunities we find for shadowing in that small city.

TAMU is the 7th largest undergrad supplier of med school applicants in the US. 594 Aggies applied to med school last year.
(See: https://www.aamc.org/media/9636/download?attachment) I’m sure the health profession advising office can point out places a pre-med can get volunteer opportunities.

Also TAMU has its own medical school–I’m sure undergrads can volunteer at the associated hospital there.

ETA: Here’s link to TAMU’s pre-med advising page.
https://opsa.tamu.edu/professions/medical.html

Looks like they offer several seminars yearly to students planning on applying for med school.

Agree with the above, take med school out of the decision equation. Choose the school that offers the best combination of fit, opportunities and cost.

Fit because happier students do better academically.

Opportunities that include other majors/interests they can explore should they opt out of pre-med, the chance to make close connections w/ their professors who will be the ones writing LORs for internships and professional or grad school, the chance to meet and interact with a wide range of people who are different from themselves (culturally, ethnically, religiously, economically, etc) and plenty of on-campus activities to get involved with.

Cost because med school runs close to $100K/year now and there is very little aid except for loans, loans and more loans. Pre-meds are strongly advised to minimize any undergrad debt.

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One more comment: niche bio majors (genetics and neuroscience) have poorer post graduation employment prospects than a plain vanilla bio major should med school not work out.

For med school, there is no “best choice” major. A student just needs to complete the expected pre-reqs*. Students can major in anything they choose. In my daughters’ med school classes, there were a huge range of majors from forestry to business to gender studies, from electrical/computer engineering to musical composition to Italian.

Every medical school has its own unique requirements for pre-reqs. Please consult MSAR or the admission webpages of specific med schools to see what an individual med school requires.

In general, a pre-med will need ALL of the following:

2 semesters introductory bio w/ labs
2 semesters general chemistry w/lab
2 semesters of organic chemistry w/labs
2 semesters of introductory physics w/labs
1 semester of biochemistry
2 semesters of “college level” math (most schools recommend or require calculus 1 and a math-based statistics/biostatistics class)
2 semester of college writing skills
1 semester of introductory psychology
1 semester of introductory sociology

Some med schools have specific requirements for additional math classes, additional biology classes, additional social sciences, or medical ethics. Some medical schools specifically require English classes to fulfill the writing requirement.

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yes, research into cancer

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I am confused. Are you commenting about genetics related careers or about the interests of this student?

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interest of student

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Does the student want to be a PhD doing research in a lab or do they want to be a medical doctor?

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Does the student want to be involved in this type of research as an undergrad? Or is the student interested in md/phd programs?

I am confused.

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MD as first choice, secondly if can;t make to Medical,get into research

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MD as first choice, secondly if can;t make to Medical,get into research

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It’s not that simple.

I would take it one step at a time. Right now I would focus on choosing which of these 2 schools is the better fit.

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I agree. Either of these schools will prepare the student well for whatever career she may want.

  1. Which school is more affordable?
  2. Which school does she like better?
  3. What major will provide the best preparation for her intended careers along with the most flexibility? It’s probably just “biology”.
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They have very different vibes, too and would likely appeal to different types of students: one is serious/nerdy (UTD), the other is very rah rah football/tailgating (TAMU).
Politically, TAMU is ranked among the most conservative universities in the country.
(UTD doesn’t appear on any list, either conservative or liberal, which I assume means students don’t care one way or the other.)
UTD is city-adjacent with all that implies. TAMU is in a college town. (Both have lots to do and college students are never bored but the environment is quite different).

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Medical research is a VERY broad field and does not required a specialized undergrad degree. Or even a biology degree.

Most jobs at the bachelor’s level either require some specific lab skills or the ability to recruit and consent individuals for research programs. Employers will often teach a new hire the specific lab skills needed. Recruiting and consenting also do not require specialized science skills. (One of D2’s sorority sisters is very successful in managing research programs. She was hired and rapidly promoted three times. She now works for a major Children’s Hospital and is highly involved in managing national level clinical trials for the NIH. She was a solid B student and a psych major.)

Becoming a professional research scientist requires a PhD. PhD programs in bioscience are almost always funded programs (meaning the research lab or university pays a grad student’s tuition and a living expenses stipend.) Undergrad concentration does not necessarily reflect a student eventual research field. In fact, many PhD programs require a student to rotate through several different subfields early as part of the grad study program.

And I think I mentioned above that a PhD in bioscience does NOT guarantee a job in medical research. There is an enormous oversupply of bio PhDs (and has been for decades!) and the majority of bio PhDs find jobs completely outside science.

D2 spent 2 years working as research program manager at a top 10 med school while she was deciding between a MD and MD/PhD. Many of her friends and colleagues were PhD students. Although her friends were all successful students (good grades, good progress on their research), all of them eventually quit grad school because their job prospects were so poor. One is a ABD (all but dissertation) and teaching high school biology in her home town. Another quit to earn a MPH in biostatistics and now works for a pharmaceutical company doing data crunching (no research). Her ex-BF also quit ABD after doing 2 years of internships in the big Ag and the big Pharm industries and not finding a job he was happy doing (i.e. research focused). No idea what he’s doing right now. (BF had worked in Craig Venter’s lab as an undergrad and went to grad school at a tippy-top program.)

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There are so many majors that involve biology with better professional prospects - biology has an oversupply of majors compared to the jobs available.
Biochem does better AFAIK simply because there are fewer students who major in it.
Large universities often offer 80-100 majors, students should comb through the offerings and figure out what may be “less obvious”, then contact the college where each “interesting but less-obvious” major is offered to know what the past 3-5 years graduates are doing.
Then they can look at major+minor combination (or if, through free electives, they can create a coherent cluster of courses giving their academic background the professional orientation they’re interested in.)
Btw I find neuroscience fascinating so I get why students would want that major in it but might it work better as a minor to a science major?
Genetics or neuro + data science could work, too.
If one wants to work in a biology related field for sure, there are better fields than straight bio: bio+statistics, bioinformatics, food science, pharmacology, most majors in College of Agriculture like renewable resources/biosystems, even geography with geosystems&environmental science/ecology or Exercise science.
Biological anthropology is interesting but less directly employable AFAIK (linked to forensic science) but could keep Med school open as well as grad school where a MS would lead to employment.

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